Museums play a vital role in nation’s response following events in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa | Les musées jouent un rôle primordial dans la réaction de la nation suite aux événements à St-Jean-sur-Richelieu et Ottawa

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Following the tragic attacks in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa, the nation has shown a strong resolve and united front. We are still mourning but activities in the nation’s capital are returning to their normal pace. Parliament has reopened its doors to the general public and municipal elections were held as planned. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Corporal Nathan Cirillo.

Q&A with Two Interns from the RBC Museum Internship for Emerging Professionals Program | Questions et Réponses avec deux stagiaires du Programme de stage RBC pour la relève muséale

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PART 2 of 2 

This blog post series profiles the 2013 interns from the RBC Museum Internship for Emerging Professionals program. In part 2 of 2, Samantha Shannon, a recent graduate from the Collections Conservation and Management program at Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario, provides a glimpse into her life as an intern: 

Q&A with Two Interns from the RBC Museum Internship for Emerging Professionals Program | Questions et réponses avec deux stagiaires du Programme de stage RBC pour la relève muséale

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PART 1 of 2

Each year, the RBC Museum Internship for Emerging Professionals program offers an enhanced learning experience for emerging museum professionals. For a period of four to six months, interns benefit from practical skills development in a professional and supervised setting. The internships take place in museums or art galleries located in the city where the CMA National Conference is to be hosted each year. This means that both 2013 interns had the rare opportunity to work in Whitehorse, Yukon! We’ve asked last year’s interns to answer some questions about their experiences.

In part 1 of 2 in this blog post series, Lianne Maitland, a recent graduate of the Masters of Museums Studies program at the University of Toronto, provides a glimpse into her life as an intern:

Virtual Reality: Taking Museum Tours into the Future | La réalité virtuelle : les musées se voient projetés dans l'avenir

Internet cultural portal Europeana is exploring a new way for the public to interact with artifacts usually kept behind closed doors. They are looking to incorporate Virtual Reality (VR) and three-dimensional (3-D) technologies into the cultural sector to allow members of the public to tour a museum without having to leave the house.

How to Improve Your YCW Application | Améliorez vos demandes Jeunesse Canada au travail

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As employer applications are received for the 2014 Young Canada Works (YCW) program, the CMA would like to thank last year’s peer review committee for their hard work.

During last year’s review process, we asked the committee to identify general recommendations for developing stronger employer applications. 

We would like to share the top 5 tips to help you write your best application yet!

Weaving a Web of Your Own

"Strike a pose…then share the results. In the entrance to the exhibition #DoubleTake. Multiple frames to choose from… ow.ly/i/1Ptg8" — excerpt from the @Civilization Twitter feed.

Along with many cultural organizations, the Canadian Museum of Civilization is using social media to reach new audiences and engage the community. Social media is less about experts disseminating information to visitors and more about building an online community and having conversations with members.

For most cultural institutions, having a Facebook and a Twitter presence is a priority but social platforms shouldn't be used to push ideas or use academic jargon; posts should be kept simple. They can be about current collections, upcoming exhibitions and interesting facts. But let’s face it, who is going to reply to those posts? Get creative! Twitter and Facebook posts should tell followers how curators develop exhibitions, share behind-the-scenes photos, ask provocative questions, tell jokes, share weird facts, and be entertaining. These kinds of posts will generate a reaction and encourage your community to interact with you online.

Q&A with Nancy Noble, New President of the CMA Board of Directors | Entrevue avec Nancy Noble, nouvelle présidente du Conseil d’administration de l’AMC

The CMA is very pleased to welcome Nancy Noble who was elected to serve as President of the CMA Board of Directors at the CMA Annual General Meeting which took place on May 29, 2013 in Whitehorse, Yukon. Nancy has served as a member of the CMA board since 2008, most recently as Vice-President. We asked Nancy about her views on the Canadian museums community and how she feels about being involved with the CMA. 
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What motivated you to get involved with the Canadian Museums Association?

I have been a member of the CMA since my days as a Master’s student in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester in England. I have always believed that one’s ability to succeed in any profession is directly related to how connected you are to others in your field and how much are willing to learn from them. The CMA has been an avenue for learning and networking for me. It is a respected organization that puts people and ideas together and over the years that has been very beneficial to me and to the organizations I have led. In fact, I don’t think I would be as engaged in my work or as successful without those connections. They have led to life-long colleagues and friends whose knowledge and counsel I rely on regularly. One of the reasons I have stayed in the field (because we all know it has its share of challenges) is the diversity of people who work in the field and their immense creativity and passion.

My decision to get involved in the governance of the organization came from an obligation to give something back to the Association and, even more importantly, to a community that has supported me throughout my career. It is an odd moment in your life when you realize you are no longer the “next generation” of leaders, but “this generation” of leaders. It was at that stage that I thought I should give something back. 

Sex Talk in the City exhibition: Q&A with Viviane Gosselin | L’exposition Sex Talk in the City : entrevue avec Viviane Gosselin

The following interview, conducted with Museum of Vancouver curator Viviane Gosselin, is intended to provide a behind-the-scenes look at Controversy and Condoms: Showing Sexuality in Canadian Museums, an article by Kierra Jones in the July/August 2013 edition of the CMA’s Muse magazine. The exhibition Sex Talk in the City is presented until September 2, 2013.
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How did this exhibition come about? Where did the idea come from?

From a confluence of events: Years ago I worked at a science centre on an exhibition exploring aspects of human biology. The segment on puberty and teens' sexuality provoked so many fun and challenging conversations on the part of museum staff and visitors that I promised myself I would one day work on an exhibition entirely dedicated to the topic of sexuality. Sex Talk in the City is the first project I proposed when I joined the curatorial team at the Museum of Vancouver (MOV) three years ago.

What a Week in Whitehorse! | Quelle semaine à Whitehorse!

We hope you have returned safe, sound and stimulated from the 2013 CMA National Conference; we certainly have! We were treated once again to the genuine hospitality of the people of Whitehorse. Even Mother Nature gave us a warm welcome! It was the perfect setting for learning and networking with some of the best in the museum community. From singing keynote speakers and inspiring award recipients, to throwing atlatls at mock mammoths and panning for gold — the week flew by!

You can relive some of your favourite moments by viewing photos on the CMA Flickr site (can you tell which ones were taken at midnight?), and videos of the Award recipients on the CMA YouTube channel. To see the entertaining “photo-booth” pictures taken during the event at the MacBride Museum of Yukon History, click on this hyperlink and use the access code “museum”. Who knew museum professionals could strike a pose like that? Our thanks to the MacBride Museum for sharing those images and for hosting a wonderful evening.

A Busy Spring and Summer

What a most amazing Conference we just had. You should see my photos of what midnight looks like in Whitehorse! 

The Conference was terrific and I wish everyone could experience the wonderful Yukon hospitality!

While up North, I went to Skagway which is one of the most beautiful drives in the world. Forest, dessert, lakes, barren rocks above the tree line, crossing the Rockies, and then straight down to Skagway. I had lunch in a brothel (now a museum), took a helicopter ride over the mountains, one of which my grandfather climbed on the way to the Klondike looking for gold a century ago (he never found much, just enough for my grandmother’s wedding ring). And then it was back to Whitehorse, where I had the opportunity to have dinner with the Premier of the Yukon, Darrell Pasloski.

I also did several important things before getting to the Yukon, such as attending the Organization of Military Museums of Canada conference in London, ON, attending meetings with the President of the Chinese Museums Association in Toronto, and I was one of three speakers to officially open the new Robert Bateman Museum in Victoria, BC.

And now I’m in New Brunswick, where I will be working for the summer. I want to wish everyone a great summer and look forward to seeing everyone in the fall!

John G. McAvity

Executive Director